This blog is for information of interest to VITA Volunteer Site Coordinators. If you are a coordinator with news of interest to others, or a question, please post an entry. The purpose is to discuss and expose shortcomings and situations with an eye to improving the situation. A new blog dedicated to using TaxWise has been set up at http://vita-volunteers-TaxWise.blogspot.com. This site is affiliated with http://www.vita-volunteers.org

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The refresher online TaxWise Administrator class for the desktop version of TaxWise provided some information that though not new, may be helpful in running the sites.

1) The add Tabs function lets you add additional tabs to the main screen; currently there are the TaxWise Home, TaxWise Web, IRS and customer service. You may be able to add additional tabs that relate to other information, either on the web or on your own computer. For example, if you have a copy of the pub 17 in your computer, you can put the pathname to it there. Note that the full name of the file, including the extension, should be there. Of course, if you are looking at a file, the relevant add-in or application must be present in your computer. If you link to html files there should be no problem.

2) Context Sensitive Help; have you found the little window of help instructions at the bottom of the screen to be useful? If so, you are not alone. However, since it takes up space, especially on low resolution or small screens, it covers most of the form you are entering. This can be toggled on and off so that it is available only when you need it.

3) Have you had the occasion when you lost the form tree on the left hand side? Well, there is a toggle button that turns it off and on. It is useful to turn off when you need the space to look at a full form, and to turn on when you are navigating.

4) If the text is too large or too small, the font size can be changed to suit your preference.